


Conversations on rooftops

by loup_garou



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 08:23:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17484590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loup_garou/pseuds/loup_garou
Summary: Arrow returns to Gotham. This time it works out better for him.





	Conversations on rooftops

The next time vigilante work takes him to Gotham, Oliver Queen has learned to prepare. Admittedly he was told he wasn't welcome back but let's face it - if you're fighting crime, sooner or later a lead will take you to Gotham. This time, however, he had Lance reach out to some Gotham Commissioner who's said to have a good relationship with Batman, and a few days later, permission to check out a lead in Gotham had come through. Even filtered through two police officers he can hear how grudging said permission is.

So here he is, quietly minding the criminal element's business on a roof in what must be the worst area of Gotham, which is saying something. He's still not entirely happy with the whole rooftop thing, having unpleasant memories from last time, and he decided not to bring his team after the carefully edited version he gave them of his last visit. So, like an idiot, he's now looking at a group so large that he's not sure he can take them all out on his own congregating in the alley below. Gotham doesn't really do much for his planning.

He's watching the scene, trying to calculate how to take down that large a group, when he sees movement out of the corner of his eye. He turns, expecting Batman, and finds someone else - easily the size of Batman (how do they sneak up on him?), with a bat on his chest, but wearing a red helmet, a leather jacket, and guns. The man is, he assumes, staring at him from behind the helmet, and says,  
"What the hell are you doing here, Arrow?"  
Oliver sighs - he had hoped to avoid a confrontation this time.  
"I'm trying to catch the guys who are bringing weapons into Star City, and I did ask Batman if he was OK with this."  
The information does not seem to go over well.  
"Batman gave you permission to work in this area?"  
"To be fair, I didn't specify which part of Gotham."  
The other thinks this over, helmet tilted slightly to the side.  
"OK. This is my territory, and you need an OK from me too, but as I'm not Batman and thus know how to play nice with others, I'll give you that OK."  
There's a quiet snort of amusement from the shadows behind him, and Oliver resists the temptation to bang his head on the nearest wall - if they're eventually going to throw him into walls, he'd rather not do their work for them, and anyway it looks undignified - but there's one more person there who's snuck up on him?

The helmeted guy has turned away from him and says  
"Ready to go, sis? You close with them, I'll back you up."  
The girl who materialises out of the shadows is small and incredibly dainty for a vigilante. She flits across the roof, offers him a nod in passing, and disappears down the drain pipe. Oliver stares as the helmet guy pulls his guns.  
"You're sending that girl down alone? How's she going to handle that many guys?"  
He can hear the grin in helmet guy's voice.  
"That's Black Bat. She can handle all of them, I'm just here to make it easy. Feel free to get involved, but no killing or I'll have to attend another very depressing Sunday dinner this week. I'm Red Hood, by the way."  
He turns back to the alley and readies his guns. Oliver nocks his first arrow, ready to aim for legs and shoulders. He can't tell if Black Bat is down there. Then a brief movement catches his eye, and Black Bat moves in to take out the gathered criminals.

Red Hood is relaxed next to him, taking shots at those who attempt to run off or get behind Black Bat. The ammunition is clearly non-lethal, judging by the lack of blood spatter, but those hit go down hard anyway. Oliver sends the occasional arrow into people, avoiding his exploding ones as he can barely keep track of Black Bat and is worried about hitting her. He's also a bit distracted by watching her, he must admit. If Batman moved like fighting is where he lives, this woman moves like she's dancing. She doesn't seem to put much power behind her punches and kicks, but the men she hits go down and stay down, and he suspects she leaves a few broken bones as she spins past them, lightly like a leaf on the wind. It is, frankly, astonishing.

"Holy shit, Red Hood, is she a meta? I thought Batman didn't like those?"  
"She's not a meta, she's my sister, the 'hi I was raised by assassins to be a living weapon' one. She could kick all our asses."  
Red Hood sounds proud of his bizarre family. Oliver remembers the comment about Sunday dinner and tries, and fails, to imagine a family dinner involving these people. And here he thought he had a dysfunctional family, but whatever he thinks of Thea's rebellious phase and decisions concerning Malcolm Merlyn, she wasn't actually raised by him or any other assassins. 

Black Bat and Red Hood together have taken out all the criminals gathered below, with occasional assistance from Oliver, and she's skimming lighly up the drain pipe again. Red Hood holds out a hand for a fist bump when she's within reach.   
"Good job, sis. Did you get the evidence too?"  
She tosses Oliver a briefcase.  
"Thank you, little brother," she says, her voice sweet, then stills, probably listening to her comms. "B says trouble at Blackgate."  
Red Hood waves at her.  
"We're done here, it's fine. Go catch bad guys."  
She moves across the roof silently, taking out her grapple gun.  
"Dinner on Sunday, little brother. B misses you."  
Red Hood facepalms.   
"I know, I know. I'm only coming because you're making me. Say hi to Batgirl."

Meanwhile, Oliver has opened the briefcase to find a laptop, hopefully containing all the information he needs, at least once he gets it into Felicity's hands. This was possibly the most painless acquisition of evidence he's ever participated in. He looks over at Red Hood to find him having taken off his helmet and just wearing a mask, smoking a cigarette. He looks young and relaxed even though his eyes are never still, moving over the area scanning for threats. Oliver walks over to him.  
"Thank you. This was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Thank your sister for me?"  
Red Hood blows out smoke.  
"Sure. I figured I owed you one anyway." He grins, a shit-eating grin that transforms his whole face. "After all, you did help me win five bucks off of Nightwing with an exploding arrow once."  
He stubs out the cigarette, puts his helmet backs on, and leaves by simply dropping off the roof. Oliver stares after him and sighs. He's never living that last visit down. Bloody Gothamites.


End file.
